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Personally, I like New Year’s. It’s nice to have a moment to check in and reflect and plan for the future. But New Year’s resolutions always feel like a chore. They’ve come to be seen as the first step to buckling down and finally fixing your life, which feels inherently a little dour. Trying to solve a problem or fix something usually puts us in a more negative space than doing something we’re excited about. So, I’ve started doing a New Year’s bucket list.
The New Year’s bucket list is a list of things I want to do before the year is out. I make this list intentionally very specific and actionable. And the key thing is it’s a list of things I want to do – not a list of things I feel like I need to do or should do.
Thanks to making a bucket list, I’ve taken an amazing camping trip with friends to Arches National Park. I’ve gone clubbing in Montreal. I’ve sold my work at an art fair! These were all things I wanted to do, but probably wouldn’t have if I hadn’t given myself permission to prioritize things I was genuinely excited about.
This is the beauty of the New Year’s bucket list. Instead of thinking about how we’re going to improve ourselves or what we need to fix, we start off the year considering the things that will really enrich our life.
7 reasons to make a New Year’s bucket list
Here’s a few reasons why you might want to try out a bucket list this year:
- It’s fun! You start your year off on a positive note
- It doesn’t require a year-long commitment to one thing
- It can get you out of your comfort zone in an approachable way
- It’s a great reason to get your friends to try new stuff with you
- Because the list is very actionable, it’s easier to accomplish items from your list than to stick to a year long resolution
- It’s about living life to the fullest, whatever that means to you, not about meeting a societal standard of ‘self improvement’
- It helps prioritize doing things for yourself that will enrich your life
What is a New Year’s bucket list?
For me, making a New Year’s bucket list is a way to refocus on things that I’m passionate, curious, and excited about. After the chaos of the holidays and coming up on the start of yet another year of being alive, taking time to think about what I’d like the New Year to hold for me is a calming and centering exercise.
And looking at my bucket list from the previous year is a way to reflect on the past year through the lens of awesome experiences, and to be grateful for the life I’m living. It’s easy to get stuck in worry and concern (at least for me) about the future, and regrets about the past. The New Year’s bucket list is a way to take a different view.
When I’m writing my bucket list, I keep in mind some key rules for what I put on it.
The Rules:
- Pick things you are genuinely excited about! No ‘should do’ items here
- Make it reasonable and actionable – have concrete activities that you’ll really be able to do in the next year
- 1-2 items on the list is plenty honestly, and no more than 10 items
- Don’t treat the list as a binding contract – if I end up no longer being excited about some of the items, I don’t have to do them
- Give myself permission to do things I might otherwise put off in favor of ‘more important’ (and less exciting) tasks
I often end up with a lot of things I’d like to do and have to edit the list down, but I keep those ideas for future lists! I also balance the list out however feels right to me: maybe if the items on it are fairly easy to do, I’ll put more on the list. Or if I have a big item (like a trip), I might put fewer things on the list.
However it works out, I go into the new year with exciting things to look forward to.
The psychology behind the bucket list
I’m not a psychologist, but I am a user experience designer. User experience design is about understanding how people use digital products (like websites and apps), what motivates them, and how their needs and desires affect their behavior. A lot of the tenants of UX design apply to many areas of life, since it’s all about how people think and make decisions.
People are more motivated by positive reinforcement than by negative reinforcement – meaning, you’re more likely to do things you look forward to than things which will have negative consequences if you don’t do them. It might seem counter intuitive, but we are actually motivated more by getting rewarded, than by avoiding negatives. The New Year’s bucket list is an exercise in giving yourself the promise of future positive rewards.
The items you put on your bucket list should be SMART – specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound. Setting SMART goals has been a staple in corporate settings for driving results because they hit all the aspects humans need to continue feeling motivated. Specific, actionable steps keep us from feeling overwhelmed with a big project, and avoid decision paralysis about where to start. Measurable steps allow us to see how far we’ve come, and let us feel good about the progress we’ve made. Relevant steps and activities feel meaningful and so more motivating. Time-bound steps give us additional motivation to finish by the deadline, but also give us a clear point at which the activity is over, so we don’t feel like we’re simply going to have to do this forever. That can be very demotivating.
And finally, bucket lists act as a form of gamification, which is proven to be a motivator for humans. Gamification is what it sounds like – making non-game activities feel more like games. A big part of gamification is providing specific tasks to be completed in order to get a reward. This is exactly what you’re doing with your bucket list! When you complete the tasks, you get not only the reward of having done something fun, but you also get the satisfaction of checking that item off the list and making progress toward doing everything on the list.
How can you get started with your own list
The best way to start is to take a few minutes and write down some things you’d like to do! Write as many as you want, you can always edit the list down later.
My bucket list from 2024 included:
- Taking a life drawing class
- Skiing 4 times (each time is a separate list item)
- Going mountain biking
- Going to the beach
- Selling my work at an art fair
- Going out to dinner at a nice restaurant
There’s no particular theme, these are just things that I wanted to do. And because I made it a point to write them down and accomplish them, I’ve done almost all of them as I’m writing this article in late November! I just have a few more ski days left to finish, which I can’t do until it snows again anyway.
And if you do have a resolution in mind, you could couple it with a bucket list. To take the classic resolution, you might want to get in shape. If ‘get in shape’ is your resolution, your bucket list is your plan to jump start progress toward that resolution. But remember, the bucket list is not a punishment. It’s a way to live life to the fullest. So you’ll have to choose activities that will help you get in shape and that you are actually excited about!
You might do something like this:
Resolution:
Get in shape
Bucket list:
- Take a spin class
- Hike a mountain near your home
- Try indoor climbing one time
- Try one session with a personal trainer
- Buy a new workout outfit
- Try cooking one low-carb meal
- Set up your home gym
Now you’ve got some exciting activities to try out and see if any of them really resonate with you! You have concrete things to do that can spark excitement for your resolution instead of it feeling like a chore.
I find having my bucket list is a fun way to encourage myself to take time for things I really enjoy. And I really make it a point to keep my list something that I’m excited about. I’m careful not to let myself feel like I have to check off everything on the list. If I just no longer am interested in something I put on the list at the beginning of the year, I let it go. Maybe I swap in something else, or I just recognize that sometimes interests change.
I hope this is helpful, and that you find lots of joy in the new year. Thanks for reading!